


Slipping to the Dark Side

by katikat



Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Coda, Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-25
Updated: 2018-03-25
Packaged: 2019-04-07 23:33:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14092140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katikat/pseuds/katikat
Summary: Maybe Jack doesn’t know how to fix the Millennium Falcon but he sure as hell recognizes a Sith when he sees one. Coda to the S1 finale. Jack’s POV. (Unbeta'd)





	Slipping to the Dark Side

Jack’s not sure what woke him up. Well, he’s actually not sure when he  _nodded off_ ; it must’ve been the gentle  _woosh-woosh-woosh_ of tires on the sun-warmed pavement that lulled him to sleep, the car driving steadily down a long stretch of an empty road.

But then something changed, something wormed its way into his sleeping mind - and it set his teeth on edge. And Jack’s not sure what it was because he  _is_ sure that there’s no danger around, it’s just him and Mac - allowed behind the wheel of Jack’s precious baby for once - and Sparky. In the trunk, yes. They  _are_ trying to keep a low profile, after all, which would be kind of impossible with a  _robot_ riding shotgun.

So, what was it? What changed that–

And then he hears it. The  _humming_.

With his skin crawling, Jack snaps his eyes open and turns his head in Mac’s direction, lifting his sunglasses to get a really good look at the kid. Mac’s driving with one hand on the steering wheel, the other stuck out of the window, fingers gently tapping against the warm metal of the driver’s door to the rhythm of that hellish tune.

“What the  _ever-loving_ hell, man?” Jack snaps.

Mac jerks in surprise at his outburst and the car swerves a little. “ _What_?” he exclaims, looking at Jack all bewildered. “What’s going on?”

Jack straightens up in his seat and turns towards his partner, glaring fiercely. “That’s what  _I’m_ asking here. Dude, what’s  _wrong_ with you?”

Mac frowns. “What are you  _talking_ about? I thought you were asleep?”

“I was! Until you did…  _that_!” Jack waves a hand, irritated, annoyed…  _worried_.

Mac still doesn’t seem to get it. “Did  _what_ , Jack? You’re not making any sense.”

And Jack realizes that Mac truly doesn’t know. He wasn’t even aware of what he was doing. Jesus  _Hopscotching_ Christ! “You were  _humming_ ,” Jack explains very patiently.

Now Mac lifts his eyebrows. “ _Yes_?” he asks slowly.

Jack looks at him pointedly. “ _What_ were you humming?”

Frowning again, Mac shakes his head. “I don’t–” Then it dawns on him. “ _Oh_.”

“Yeah,  _oh_! It’s creepy listening to  _Murdoc_ whistle that goddamn tune. But hearing it from you?” Jack gives a whole body shudder and he’s not at  _all_ exaggerating. To hear  _Mac_ hum “Home on the Range” gives him the heebie-jeebies.

“Jack,” Mac says in a soothing voice and with a little smile, “it’s just a  _song_.”

 _Just a song?! Is he kidding?_  “No, it isn’t! It hasn’t been ‘just a song’ ever since Murdoc turned it into his trademark tune! His ‘Let’s break MacGyver into itty-bitty pieces’ soundtrack,” Jack snaps.

Mac laughs softly. “Murdoc didn’t break me, Jack.”

“Well, apparently he did,” Jack yells, “if you’re humming his song now, without even being aware of it! That’s not normal, dude! That’s so far from normal, it’s not even on the same continent!”

Sighing, Mac says, “Jack–”

But Jack stops him with an upraised hand. “No, no more of this ‘I’m fine’ BS. Not so long ago, when we saved The Architect’s life, you told me that being Murdoc-that it was just a role that you could easily set aside, take it off like a damn  _coat_. Call me paranoid–”

“You  _are_ paranoid,” Mac jumps in with a smile - but his smile looks a little brittle around the edges. Jack might not know his math, but he does know his Mac.

And so he continues as if Mac hasn’t spoken, “–but this,  _whatever_ this is” –he waves his hand at Mac again– “doesn’t look like you just ‘took it off’, man. Talk to me. Tell me what’s going on in that brilliant noggin’ of yours. Just how badly did Murdoc mess it up in there?”

For a long while, Mac simply stares ahead, at the road shimmering hotly in the late afternoon sun. And just when Jack starts thinking he’ll have to push harder to crack this egg, Mac answers, truthfully.

“I honestly don’t know, Jack,” he whispers and his shoulders slump a little. “This guy…” Mac shakes his head. “He has a way of getting under my skin, of making me do things I would usually never do. He knows exactly what buttons to push, what to say to-to twist my thoughts around, turn white into black and black into white until I even can’t tell the difference.”

That’s what Jack was afraid of. Not Murdoc the Killer but Murdoc the  _Master Manipulator_. Watching him mold Mac into something almost…  _alien_ to Jack, it made Jack want to grab the kid and run, get him as far away from that creep as possible.

Mac continues, “I have no idea why he has so much power over me. Maybe-maybe it’s because we’re so much alike.”

 _What? What the what?!_ “Hold your horses there, pal! You and the Mad Hatter are nothing alike, you hear me?”

But Mac just sighs. “Jack, I know you don’t want to hear this–”

“Of course I don’t want to hear this,” Jack yells again. “Because it’s bogus. Nonsense. And stupid on top of that!”

Mac glances at him. “Is it stupid that I almost strangled him with my bare hands back there, in the interrogation room? Because I did. I threw myself at him, I had my hands around his neck and I wanted to kill him, right there.”

Well, Jack didn’t know that - he’ll have to ask Matty for the vids from Mac’s little “lessons” with Murdoc; he doesn’t care if she thinks that he doesn’t need to see them because apparently, he does and this time, he’ll not budge - but that doesn’t change anything. It does not. It  _will_ not.

“Yeah, so?” Jack retorts with annoyance. “So he got you all worked up, that’s what the nutjob does, Mac! He ferrets out your weak spots and then he works on them and pushes and pushes you until you don’t know which way is up, like you said. That makes him a skilled player, not your-your _kindred spirit_ or whatever.”

And then, seeing Mac’s still doubting face, Jake comes up with his trump card. “Well, and then you have  _me_ , of course.”

In reaction to that statement, Mac’s frown melts into a smile and he throws Jack a quick glance. “Oh, do I?”

Jack nods. “Of course, you do. I’m here and I’m not going anywhere. And if you start doubting yourself, if you start thinking you can’t tell right from wrong…” He looks at Mac. “Just ask  _me_ , okay? I might not know how to-how to fix the Millennium Falcon or whatever but I sure as hell recognize a Sith when I see one. And I won’t let you slip to the dark side. I promise.”

Mac glances at him again. His smile widens and something about him - maybe the set of his shoulders, maybe the look in his eyes - relaxes. “Alright, then.”

Jack nods again. “Alright. Now step on it, Obi-Wan, I’m getting hungry,” he says, and slumping in his seat again, he leans comfortably against the door. “And no more humming or I’m pulling out my Willie Nelson collection.”

“Okay, fine! No more humming, cross my heart,” Mac replies, laughing.

And Jack smiles, too, closing his eyes. Time for another nap.


End file.
